Ah, the writing process… the thing is, I don’t seem to really have one. Yes, I have read many an article on the proper way to outline a book before beginning, and how to write at least 3,000 words a day, every day, but apparently, I’m just not that organized, nor do I always think in a linear fashion. My mind, for better or worse, is usually all over the place, and so is my writing. At least in the beginning.

In the beginning, I have a character in mind, complete with flaws and emotional baggage. Oddly, it’s almost always the male character in the story that comes to me first. Psychoanalyze that one- am I creating the man I’d like to be dating right then? (I mean if I were single, of course; I’m happily married!) From there, I just start writing, and never from the beginning. Sometimes I sketch out a few sentences about how the characters meet and their backgrounds, but I almost always dive into the middle of the story first and then work my way out to the edges, and this works for me.

The hard part is pulling it all together and making lots of separately written scenes into a seamless story. I’ve recently started using Scrivener, which makes it a lot easier because you can write individual scenes and then move them around on a ‘cork board’ to see what fits where, and what’ missing. It gives you a ‘big picture’ from lots of little parts.The most rewarding part for me is the final editing just before the manuscript is sent off. All of those little pieces now read like a book, one that I am happy with and enjoy. I can only hope that other people will take pleasure in reading it too.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself. Though I used to work in Boston in the biotech industry, I’m now loving life on a small farm in New England where my husband and I are raising our three children and lots of animals. Between taking care of chickens and goats and shuttling the kids to dance class and piano lessons, I find the time to pursue my own interest: writing. I relish creating stories and bringing my characters to life on the written page, and each book is a labor of love. I’m passionate about the romance genre because of the emotional journey a well-written novel can take the reader on, and my goal with each of my books is to do the same for my readers. I would love to hear from you at kellamckinnon.com, or kellamckinnon@gmail.com.www.amazon.com/author/kellamckinnon

BLURB:“I never thought it would go this far… that a man with such terrible secrets would steal my heart and make me want him so much, when his life of danger and lies should have made me want nothing more than to turn and run. I understood him, you see. I knew that beneath all of that money and power, and yes… violence, was a man in desperate need of love. So desperate that he took from me something I wasn’t ready to give: my future.”Brielle Dalton thought the few months in Vegas she needed to finish her dissertation would also be a chance to have some fun before ‘real life’ took over. But she never counted on meeting Cristos Vicario, the irresistible but troubled owner of the Adagio casino. The attraction was instant and all-consuming, but in the beginning neither knew that their lives had crossed before, and the result had been nothing short of tragedy. By the time Brielle discovers who Cristos really is, and what he has done in a reckless attempt to keep her, it’s too late. She’s already in too deep.~~~~~~~~~~~~~In DeepI turned to Cristos and offered him a casual smile. He was watching me, his expression unreadable at the moment, which bothered me. I’m usually very good at reading people. It’s second nature to me, so much so that I often don’t even know how I do it, so I felt a little bit blind when it came to this man. And of course when people are very hard to read, they usually have something to hide. His stoic silence was making me squirm, so I made an attempt at conversation.

“Thank you… for taking me to dinner. Where are we going?”His expression relaxed into a devilish smile. “My pleasure, Brielle. And it’s a surprise.”He shifted his body a little so that the length of his thigh was pressing against mine. A jolt of heat raced through me at the contact, but when I looked up again, he was gazing past me and out the window, so I couldn’t tell if he’d done it on purpose. I had the sudden, disconcerting urge to crawl into his lap and rub up against him. Just thinking about it was making my heart beat faster.“We’re almost there”, he said.“Already?”He laughed. “Vegas is a small city. Were you hoping the ride would last longer?” He pressed just a little bit closer, and I tried to scoot a bit farther away so that I didn’t suddenly lose my mind and actually crawl onto his lap. The way my body was reacting to him, it was a distinct possibility, and I needed to be careful or I was going to end up looking like either a slut or an idiot, neither of which was flattering.His hand came down gently on my thigh and my breath hitched in my throat. “Are you sure you’re not afraid of me, Cariño?”He was looking at me with those sexy eyes again, and I felt like I could fly. “No. I’m not afraid of you,” I said with a little laugh.“Good. If it’s not fear I’m sensing from you, then it must be desire.” His voice was deep and just a little husky. He was so near, so real, so hedonistically male.I could only stare at him for a long moment, during which Dante opened the partition to announce our arrival, breaking the spell I had apparently fallen under. Be careful, Brie, or you’ll end up hitching a ride home with his personal assistant later.The car pulled to a stop at the curb, and Dante came around to open the door for us. Criss got out and then reached for my hand. I slipped mine into his and that same thrill went through me at the contact. His grip tightened. I stepped out onto the curb, and was shocked to see several people with cameras raised in our direction. Dante stepped protectively between us and the crowd, and Criss took my arm.“Ignore them, Brie. Just keep walking.”I did, and within moments we were inside a posh looking restaurant, and being shown to our table as Dante disappeared toward the car.Once we were comfortably seated at an intimate corner table, I leaned closer.“Does that happen all the time? The photographers?”He shrugged as he opened the wine list and perused the pages. “Sometimes. Other times I manage not to be noticed. It just goes with the territory.”“Oh…”His eyes flicked up to mine. “Don’t worry, Dante will keep them from bothering us during dinner.”He signaled the waiter, who hurried over to our table. “A bottle of your best red, please. And ask the chef to prepare something special for us tonight.”The waiter’s eyes practically sparkled as he gave a little bow and headed for the kitchen. No doubt he was anticipating a rather large tip.Criss turned his full attention to me, leaning his elbows on the table and casually running one finger over his full bottom lip. “Alexis tells me you’re a student in anthropology.”His eyes, god… they burned right through me. I had to clear my throat a little. “Yes, I’m just finishing up my Ph.D., which of course is why I’m here in Vegas.”“Why anthropology? It’s kind of unusual, isn’t it?”I smiled, my love for the subject undoubtedly shining through. “It just comes naturally to me, I suppose. I’ve always loved to study people, figure them out, their motives and interactions. I sort of have a knack for understanding all that on a really basic level that most people never see. It’s fascinating to me, always has been.”He leaned closer and gave me a dark smile, his lips curving up dangerously. “And are you going to figure me out, Brielle?”“I don’t know”, I said quite honestly. It was already obvious to me that the man ran pretty deep, and I had a very hard time reading him. The one thing I did know for sure is that if I let him have the upper hand with me, this spark we seemed to have would go nowhere. If I fell into the mold he made for me, I was certain he would use me up and then walk away. He would probably do that anyway. That must be the way he had always managed to avoid relationships, because women tried so hard to become what he wanted them to be.

In DeeperI took another deep breath. “Whatever it is, you can tell me, Criss.”He looked over at me, and I could see the pain and confusion in his eyes for the first time, plain as day. It gutted me.“No, I can’t, Brie. It’s not just that I don’t want to. It’s dangerous, and the less anyone but me knows, the better. Can you understand that?” He was watching me closely again, like he had last night, as if he was looking for even the slightest reaction.I sat back a little, stunned, but not really surprised. I had guessed a long time ago that he might be tangled up in some sort of questionable activities, but dangerous? For the life of me I couldn’t imagine what he could be involved in that had him this uptight. The mob? A loan shark? No, he had too much money to owe anyone anything. Drugs? I’d never seen him use any, or seen any signs that he ever had… and… well, I just couldn’t think of anything else.“Okay… What do you want then? Do you want us to be over?” I knew I should be running in the other direction as fast as I could right now, but instead every single cell in my body was hoping he’d say no.“No, Brie.”Thank god. I think.I took a deep breath. “Why would you think I was out to get you? Why would I be spying on you? I never even knew who you were until Lexi told me.”“I just… I’ve been burned before, that’s all. And I never saw it coming.”“I see.”“Look… I know it’s wrong and I know that when all is said and done you’ll probably end up hating me, but no. I couldn’t stand for us to be over. It would kill me.”“Then that’s all I need to hear, for now anyway. Just promise me that when you can tell me things, you will.”He nodded, but his eyes shifted away from mine. He might never tell me, but for right now, I’d take what I could get. And what I wanted most in that moment was to hold him and touch him and breathe in the warm scent of his skin. If it wasn’t love that I felt for this man, it was getting awfully close. The question remained though, if I ever got to know the part of him he was hiding from me, would I feel the same?“Take me back to your place, please, Criss.”He looked over at me, then picked up my hand and squeezed it. “Thank you, for understanding. It’s more than I should ask of you.” He gave me a sad smile and then started the car, shifting into gear and pulling away from the curb. This time, the ride was much calmer.We went straight up to the penthouse and he took off all of his clothes, then undressed me slowly, pausing to kiss each part of my body as he uncovered it.All but my lips.